A kung fu fighter in a disco

Yes - the Rudenko (Russian electro-trance dude who's been kicking around for a few years but not really doing a lot) is pretty good.

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carsmilesteve.livejournal.com

i'm still a little suspicious of ulysses i think. also it makes me sing the ulysses song off of the cartoon.

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Albums-wise - Fever Ray is way out in front (maybe it is the weather); Anthony Hamilton's The Point Of It All has 4-5 tracks which absolutely blow me away, and would be a vg album even without them; Scarface's Emeritus (also from Dec I think) is excellent steely hip-hop; DJ Sprinkles (gorgeous deep house ft. queer theory) and Telefon Tel Aviv (wintry layered pop-techno, related to Apparat) are holding it down on the dance side. And the Timberlee/Natalie Storm/Tifa mixtape I posted the other day, which only Frank appeared to check out. And the Oneman Night Slugs set I posted on my own lj - saw him last weekend at the last FWD at The End, and the Baby D/Joker moment is even more immense live.

Trax-wise I've mostly been repeatedly jamming new hip-hop - was going to do a round-up post at some point? Nicki Minaj's 'Beam Me Up Scotty', Jay Rock's 'All My Life', NORE's 'NY Groove' and Jim Jones & Ryan Leslie's 'Precious' are starting favourites (have jammed the first so much that I basically have it off by heart already. WHERE MI WEST INDIES, WHERE THE FUCK MI CURRY CHICKEN AND MI RICE & PEAS.)

Have just discovered Fabo from D4L's solo stuff - a track from last year called 'Pork & Beans' and a new one called 'Spaceship Man' - really not what I expected, eccentric southern-fried hip-hop-soul, kinda like Outkast when they were good? Really great stuff.

And the Ciara/Cassie leaks keep coming - 'One Favor' (deep, Princey, synthy epic) and 'Rattla' (menacing, grinding crunk banger, 'Oh' redux - not a bad thing) for the former, 'Summer Charm' for the latter. And the 5 or so tracks I've heard from The-Dream make me VERY hyped for his imminent album - 'Rockin' That Thang' is HUGE, especially.

Pig & Dan's 'Terminate' is a great piece of space battle techno too!

Sinden's Fabric mix is A+ banging too.

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do people want a hip-hop round-up post btw? youtubes or mp3s...

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lockedintheatti.livejournal.com

yes please!

Fever Ray - haven't heard the album yet but the tracks I have are ace

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bengraham.livejournal.com

'Pork & Beans' was the title of Weezer's song last year. Did someone else release a tune with the same title? What are the chances of that, eh?

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it's a pretty common American dish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_and_beans) - I'd be surprised if there weren't more songs which referred to it!

Fabo's track has, thankfully, nothing to do with Weezer's:

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koganbot

And the Timberlee/Natalie Storm/Tifa mixtape I posted the other day, which only Frank appeared to check out

See Xhuxk's singles list below.

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lastclearchance.livejournal.com

Scarface was indeed December, and absolutely agreed on Sinden's Fabriclive.

I've also been enjoying DJ Zhao's Ngoma Vol. 2 mix though it doesn't band like Sinden's mix does.

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I've been humming that Jordin Sparks song since Monday morning, if that counts?

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lockedintheatti.livejournal.com

NASA featuring Santogold, Kanye & Lykke Li - Gifted.

Think it surfaced in December but I don't seem to remember it being discussed here, and it's ace (and that comination of artists should tick a few poptimist boxes)

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martinv.livejournal.com

Ticks my box definitely.

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koganbot

Cassie "Summer Charm" (not that I have the foggiest notion what month or year it actually leaked): Goes to a half-speed girl-group sound where she somehow achieves the same inexplicably imperious and insouciant vulnerability that she always does.

Cassie "Soldier 4 Your Love" (not that I have the foggiest...etc.) Would be a good but unsurprising r&b loneliness track that easily could be Paula DeAnda or JoJo in resolute sorrow except Cassie somehow achieves the same inexplicably imperious and insouciant...etc. and OMG it may be her greatest track ever, unless "Summer Charm" is or "Turn The Lights Off" is or [five or six others].

Brandy "I'm With You" (well, first heard it the last week in December, and not that I have the foggiest...etc.) Glistens up "Umbrella"-type swaying so as to give it a "Disturbia" shine.

Rihanna f. Akon "Emergency Room" (well, first heard it the last week in December, and not that I have the foggiest...etc.): Glistens up "Umbrella"-type swaying so as...etc., and Rihanna is dreaming hopefully that by withdrawing her love from Akon she will cause him to DIE OF GRIEF (so, kinda "Unfaithful" but with a happier attitude towards emotional murder)

Winfred E. Eye Til I Prune: Just got it. On their first album they got a good effect by taking a dark bluesy growl and giving it dreamy drifting accompaniment. On this one they go for even more of the dreamy drift, and it's beautiful an' all but I haven't decided yet if the dreaminess is too much; maybe I'll decide it's just right and I'll stop holding against the album that it fits in with modern indie's uncommitted soundscaping. (The first album took several months to really penetrate.)

Pink "Could've Had Everything" (has been around for a couple months as a bonus track, but I just heard it): Gives a gentle lilt to Pink's basic raw sadness.

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misspelledwerd.livejournal.com

Is there a version of "Soldier 4 Your Love" with Cassie? 'cause I can only find a demo w/ Jenna???.

Also, that Rihanna feat. Akon song isn't Rihanna feat. Akon. It's a demo for her; the singer (/co-songwriter) is the brilliant Priscilla Renea, who's been posting awesome youtube videos since like summer 2006 (pretty much all of them are gone, but some people posted a few mp3s on imeem). She's amazing at mimicking singers (that's definitely not her at her best). Anyway, she's releasing her own ep in March and an album in the summer.

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koganbot

Ha! I had no idea. I've been mizled. So perhaps the "Soldier 4 Your Love" is Jenna mimicking Cassie, too? I'll have to do some searches more and find out.

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koganbot

Also, I've seen "Soldier 4 Your Love" attributed to Cassie, to Jenna, and to Aubrey formerly of Danity Kane. Probably explains why it sounded more standard and less like Cassie to me, but I love it, whoever it is.

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koganbot

There only seems to be one version of "Soldier 4 Your Love," whoever it's by.

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koganbot

OK, here's Renea talking about it on YouTube. I probably would have guessed that "Soldier 4 Your Love" wasn't Cassie, eventually, since the voice doesn't have Cassie's blank space, and the singing wasn't Cassie's usual approach, but I would never have guessed "Emergency Room" wasn't Rihanna if you hadn't told me. Now that I listen, I hear how the voice is significantly thinner than Rihanna's usually is - but I'm only noticing that because I'm looking for differences. I hope the snafu doesn't cause Rihanna to can the song, though I wouldn't be surprised if it does.

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misspelledwerd.livejournal.com

http://latino.myspace.com/jennasmusiconline

I'll post more about Priscilla this weekend...

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Taster for my imminent hip-hop post! Nicki Minaj's 'Beam Me Up Scotty' is SO GOOD - I am a sucker for female rappers who slip into Jamaican patois, the beat is just right for bringing your ass down to, and it has the couplet "if he can work the middle like a mohawk, tell him he can meet me where them girls say aloha".

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koganbot

Oh yeah, and "Kuff" and "Heels" on that Federation & Timberlee/Natalie Storm/Tifa mixtape that Lex hipped us to several days ago.

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miss-newham.livejournal.com

The David Byrne/Dirty Projectors song is really great!

I heard the some of the new Peaches album and it sounds like Kylie. I haven't decided whether this is good.

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koganbot

Xhuxk praised these three 2009 albs on Rolling Country, though he's drawn away from the Dierks Bentley a bit:

Megan Munroe – One More Broken String (Diamond)
Chuck Mead – Journeyman's Wager [label tk]
Dierks Bentley – Feel The Fire (Capitol)

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I actually probably slightly prefer the Dierks Bentley (which has one great song, and a couple more I really like, amid lots of tolerable-or-better mere competence) to the Chuck Mead (which has pub-rock energy and often amusing songwriting with a good schooling in Chuck Berry and Nike Lowe but your usual merely adequate alt-country so-what of a voice; he's a BR-459 almunus, if that means anything to anybody -- it really doesn't mean that much to me, as I never paid much attention to BR-459) As for Megan Munroe, I like her album way more than those other two, but its first half seems to blow away its second half (which may well make her this year's Ashlee Simpson, who knows.)

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Lily Allen's 'Straight To Hell' cover is VERY WEIRD as I keep expecting her to launch into "I fly like paper get high like planes..."

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edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com

Am enjoying the VV Brown singles, "Crying Blood" and "Leave!" though I haven't had a chance to explore her further.

Also, "What About the Future" by Toy Horses has been an excellent addition to my collection of novelty-ish songs that mention Stephen Fry.

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jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

I refer the Hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave earlier:
http://jeff-worrell.livejournal.com/99071.html

I also second

skyecaptain's remarks about The Bird and The Bee

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Didn't notice this thread until now; in extremely tentative and in-flux-forever order of preference, here are the albums I've been listening to so far and liking (with increasing reservations, as always, as the list progresses downward):

Sigh – Imaginary Soundscape (The End reissue)
Death – …For The Whole World To See (Drag City reissue)
Megan Munroe – One More Broken String (Diamond)
Zero Boys – Vicious Circle (Secretly Canadian reissue)
Sinner – Crash And Burn (Candlelight USA)
Diagonal – Diagonal (Rise Above)
Dirty Little Rabbits – Simon (The End EP)
Edguy – Tinnitus Sanctus (Nuclear Blast)
Saxon – Into The Labyrinth (SPV)
Elder – Elder (Meteor City ’08)
Steadlür – Everything Is Nothing (Roadrunner)
Dead Man – Euphoria (Crusher)
Kid Sister – Dream Date (Downtown)
Fires Of Rome – You Kingdom You (The Hours)
The Answer – Everyday Demons (The End)
(Various) – The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute To The Songs Of Chris Gaffney (Yep Roc)
Gene Dante and the Future Starlets – The Romantic Lead (Omnirox Entertainment)
K’Naan – Troubador (A&M)
Pat Green – What I’m For (BNA)
Dalek – Gutter Tactics (Ipecac)
Wicked Witch – Chaos 1978-86 (EM reissue)
Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs – Long Live Rock and Roll (Aztec Music reissue ’08)
Living Things – Habeas Corpus (Jive/Zomba)
Dierks Bentley – Feel The Fire (Capitol)
Chuck Mead – Journeyman’s Wager (Grassy Knoll)
Mr. Oizo – Lambs Anger (Ed Banger)

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I've only really been liking one song (the second one) on that drowsy new Winfred E. Eye album that Frank mentioned up above.

And as usual, I am way behind on singles. Kind of like these, I guess, but your guess on the proper order is as good as mine:

Trace Adkins – “I Can’t Outrun You”
Ne-Yo “Mad”
Will Young – “Grace”
Trace Adkins – “Marry For Money”
Lady Antebellum – “Run To You”
Mystery Jets – “Two Doors Down”
Bruce Springsteen – “Dream Baby Dream”
Timberlee feat. Tosh – “Heels”

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skyecaptain.livejournal.com

Kid Sister – Dream Date (Downtown)

!! Didn't realize a proper album was ever going to surface. I really like the handful of tracks I have by her and/or A-Trak. (Anyone who liked A-Trak's Dirty South Dance will recognize her from the song "Control.")

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Album was supposed to come out last year (I've had an advance since, like, October -- in fact, I really need to go back and listen to the thing one of these days!); keeps being pushed back. Now due out in March, last I heard.

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Actually, on the basis of one streamed listen (plus replaying a few tracks a second time), I'd quite possibly rate Lady Sovereign's due-in-April *Jigsaw* (EMI/Midget, ha ha) above any of the albums above. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' *La Luz Del Ritmo* sounded good start to finish, too, but I'm still not sure it would make the above list unless at least a song or two REALLY excite me, and thus convince me it's more than just another good Los Cadillacs album. ("Should I Stay Or Should I Go" cover was naturally fun, but doesn't necessarily convince me they're not still spinning their wheels in the same spot they were a decade and a half ago -- which is around the time they covered the Clash's "Revolution Rock," a more interesting choice for a rock en espanol band as far as I'm concerned.)

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